2025 IC Business Report

About the 2025 IC Business Report

The IC Business Report is designed to provide the IC Council and all ICs of the world with a yearly update of the club’s members, events and general activities. It allows ICs to share best practices, to learn from each other, and to give feedback to the IC Council. Furthermore, the Council is then able to address ‘issues of major concerns and general improvements’ and to ascertain how it can help to improve these.

36 out of 42 ICs responded to the 2025 survey, which was distributed via Survey Monkey. The missing ICs were Bulgaria, Hungary, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Romania and Sweden – of which Hungary and Sweden had completed the 2024 survey. We have added prior data from 2023 for Pakistan and from 2024 for Hungary and Sweden for the purposes of comparison with previous years (data is not available for the remaining three).

This means we included data for a total of 39 ICs (out of 42 which excludes Russia but includes the newly-formed Bolivia), with missing data for Bulgaria, Hong Kong and Romania. In the 2024 analysis, we recorded data for 37 ICs (out of 41).  For the sake of homogeneity in the analysis of the evolution of our membership, we note both the absolute numbers of the total membership and the growth observed when comparing current figures for the same ICs that were accounted for in 2024 (i.e. constant mix).

The response rate has declined slightly compared to 2024, with three ICs having not responded to the survey for several years. The insights provided by the survey are essential to the Council, Regional Representatives and each individual IC to inform key decision-making regarding our strategy – so we ask that all ICs make every effort to respond to future requests.

Each IC’s President and Honorary Secretary has already received a copy of their responses and an individual report.

For any questions or feedback, please email Tash Richards and Laura Bunster Galeno at the IC Council:

ts@ictennis.net
laura@ictennis.net

Contents

Executive Summary

Member Demographics

Younger Members

Ex-Professional Members

Wheelchair Tennis

Activity Overview

IC Rod Laver Junior Challenge

Board Members

IC Philanthropy Foundation

Communications

Finances

Sources of Support

Areas of Concern

Executive Summary

The 2025 Business Returns account for a total of 4,319 members, a slight decrease compared to the 4,367 members identified in 2024. When considering only the 33 ICs that were in existence and completed both the 2024 and 2025 surveys, there has been a 2% net drop in membership (accounting for deceased members). This is a change from 2024 where we observed a 0.2% increase in membership.

Gender distribution has seen a slow increase in female proportion over the last ten years but is flat YoY compared to 2024, with 68% male and 32% female members. And encouragingly, the gender distribution of our youngest (i.e. under 28) age category is much more even, with 46% female and 54% male (although this has declined each year since 2023 when this was 49% and 51% respectively).

We are still seeing an aging effect within our membership, however, with approximately 66% of the total being ‘senior’ (i.e. over 55), and only 17% in the ‘younger’ category (i.e. under 45). Following the decision by the Council to homogenise the age groups across both males and females in the Business Returns Survey moving forwards (in response to feedback at our 2025 AGM), exact YoY comparisons cannot be made – however the 2024 figures do suggest little change (68% over 55 and 17% under 45). There is much work still to be done in this area, particularly considering that we have also seen no progress in the representation of ‘younger’ members within IC boards since last year (62% down from 65%) – which is crucial in our efforts to address the wider issue of younger IC participation.

In 2022, the Executive Committee shared membership targets with ICs, to drive the action required to respond to our major membership challenges of attracting more top players, female and younger members. So far, 24 out of 36 ICs (67%) have taken some form of action in response to this – which is encouraging, particularly given a strong YoY increase since 2024 (21 ICs/58%), however we are yet to see any tangible overall improvements in these numbers. Whilst more females and ex-professional players are now represented on IC boards (although the same cannot be said for younger members), overall membership amongst younger, female and ex-professional players is plateauing or declining. The Council is hopeful that this may be a subject of discussion by Regional Representatives with their respective ICs and looks forward to monitoring its progress at the next AGM.

IC activity levels dropped slightly in 2025 – with 21 ICs reporting participating in fewer than 5 events (up from 19 in 2024) and 15 ICs reporting more than 5 events (down from 17 in 2024). This could be due to a skew in the 2024 data driven by the high number of ICs that participated in the IC Centenary celebrations in August 2024.

In response to the growing popularity and accessibility of wheelchair tennis, this year’s survey included some new questions to help the Council understand the approaches of ICs towards incorporating wheelchair tennis into their membership and activities. It was positive to see that 8 ICs (22%) already have wheelchair tennis members, and 6 (17%) include it in their bilateral matches. 15 ICs (42%) said they would be interested in participating in international wheelchair tennis matches, and 8 (22%) would be prepared to host. This topic will be discussed further at the next AGM.

There are some general areas of concern and request for help cited (which are consistent with previous years), with the top three being:

• Demographics of members
• Ability to attract/retain members
• Low number of active members.

The development of philanthropic activities that enhance the lives of disadvantaged young people and expand the practice of tennis amongst junior players, is really positive to see – with 14 ICs now supporting IC Philanthropy Foundation programmes around the world and new programmes in discussion. That said, we’ve seen a sharp decrease since 2024 in the number of ICs who have appointed members of their boards to be responsible for philanthropy (20 in 2025 vs 28 in 2024) – so we strongly encourage those ICs who haven’t appointed someone to do so. As the IC moves further into its second century, it’s important that we stay focused on how our community can continue to broaden and deepen its impact around the world.

Member Demographics

• The 2025 Business Returns account for a total of 4,319 members, a slight decrease compared to the 4,367 members identified in 2024.
• Considering only the 33 ICs that were in existence and completed both the 2024 and 2025 surveys (i.e. excluding Austria, Hungary, Pakistan and Sweden), there has been a 2% net drop in membership (accounting for deceased members): from 4,113 in 2024 to 4,025 in 2025, despite the addition of the newly-formed IC of Bolivia. This is a change from 2024 where we observed a 0.2% increase in membership, so will require ongoing monitoring.
• Of the total members, 32% are female and 68% are male (flat YoY vs 2024). The proportion of females has been slowly improving over the last nine years, although is still significantly lower than that of males – so continued focus on this area is still needed.

• Not all ICs provided the age breakdown requested, but those that did account for 3,808 (2,610 male + 1,198 female). This is a much lower figure than for 2024 and provides critical demographic information, so please endeavour to complete this for the next survey.
• We are still seeing an aging effect within our membership, with approximately 66% of the total being ‘senior’ (i.e. over 55), and only 17% in the ‘younger’ category (i.e. under 45). Following the decision by the Council to homogenise the age groups across both males and females in the Business Returns Survey moving forwards (in response to feedback at our 2025 AGM), exact YoY comparisons cannot be made – however the 2024 figures do suggest little change (68% over 55 and 17% under 45). These figures have not changed significantly since 2021, demonstrating that efforts to attract ‘younger’ new members have not so far driven much in the way of incremental improvements.
•  Encouragingly, the gender distribution of our youngest (i.e. under 28) age category is much more even – of the 178 members in this category (down from 205 in 2024), 46% are female and 54% are male. This represents a slight drop on previous years (47% and 53% respectively in 2024 and 49% and 51% in 2023), however it remains the most balanced age category in terms of gender. Across the other age categories, the split is 31% female and 69% male, which is flat YoY vs 2024.
• In 2022, the Executive Committee shared membership targets with ICs, to drive the action required to respond to our major membership challenges of attracting more top players, female and younger members. So far, 24 out of 36 ICs (67%) have taken some form of action in response to this – which is encouraging, and also higher than 2024 (21 ICs/58%). The Council is hopeful that this may be a subject of discussion by Regional Representatives with their respective ICs and looks forward to monitoring its progress at the next AGM.

Total members 2019 - 2025

*Pre-2025, this was <45 male and <40 female.
**Pre-2025, this was >55 male and >50 female.

Younger Members

• 27 out of 36 ICs (75%) actively pursue recruiting younger members – this is a drop from 30 ICs (83%) in 2024. This is concerning, considering that younger membership figures have not changed significantly since 2021, despite much focus in this area.
• Of the 213 new members whose age category was identified by respective ICs, only 60 (28%) belonged to the younger categories, marking a sharp drop since 2024 (112/40% of new members). This demonstrates the need for a continued concerted effort from ICs to recruit more younger members.
• Of these 60 new younger members, 40% were female and 60% were male – marking an improvement in gender balance since 2024 (38% and 62% respectively) but not yet equalling the peak of 2022 (47% and 53%). While this represents a more even gender distribution than across the IC membership as a whole, it nevertheless demonstrates a need to continue efforts to recruit new members evenly across both genders.
• A few challenges were cited by ICs in pursuing the recruitment of younger members – including their preference to play ITF and pro tournaments, the loss of younger players who go overseas to college and don’t return, a lack of willingness to pay subs and a lack of availability for matches.
• A number of strategies were also cited by ICs for attracting younger members – including trying to activate them during their current career in pro tennis, keeping in touch with former IC Junior Challenge participants, offering free/reduced membership until they are older, encouraging existing younger members to recruit their friends, and automatically making them members after playing Davis or BJK Cup. It is positive to see these efforts and they will be discussed further at the next AGM.

Ex-Professional Members

• 38 ICs were able to report at least approximately how many of their members had been top-200 ATP/WTA ranked – with the number of those members totalling 438 (10% of our total membership). This represented a sharp drop from 2024 (546/13% of members), which is concerning considering that only 34 ICs reported on this number last year and that this is a top Council priority.
• 37 ICs were able to report at least approximately how many of their members had held any ATP/WTA ranking – with the number of those members totalling 936 (22% of our total membership). More positively than for the top-200 ATP/WTA ranked figure mentioned above, this represents an increase on 2024 (882/20% of members).
• 37 ICs were able to report at least approximately how many of their members had been top-10 ranked in their country – with the number of those members totalling 980 (23% of our total membership). This also represents a drop from 2024 (1,075/25% of members), which is also concerning considering that only 32 ICs reported on this number last year.

Wheelchair Tennis

• In response to the growing popularity and accessibility of wheelchair tennis, this year’s survey included some new questions to help the Council understand the attitudes of ICs towards incorporating wheelchair tennis into their membership and activities.
• It was positive to see that 8 ICs (22%) already have wheelchair tennis members, and 2 ICs (The Netherlands and Uruguay) have more than 10 members.
• 6 ICs (17%) reported that they include wheelchair tennis in their bilateral matches, and 15 ICs (42%) said they would be interested in participating in international wheelchair tennis matches. 8 ICs (22%) also noted that they would be prepared to host a match.
• A few challenges were cited by ICs in developing wheelchair tennis activities – including the fact that wheelchair players tend to concentrate on their own tournaments, a lack of interest in joining the IC and a lack of resources or funds alongside managing existing IC activities. This topic will be discussed further at the next AGM.

Activity Overview

• IC activity levels dropped slightly in 2025 – with 21 ICs reporting participating in fewer than 5 events[1] (up from 19 in 2024) and 15 ICs reporting more than 5 events (down from 17 in 2024).
• Similarly, only 9 out of 36 ICs (25%) reported an increase in the number of activities they participated in (down from 15/42% in 2024), 23 ICs (64%) reported no change (up from 18/50% in 2024) and 4 ICs (11%) reported a decrease (up from 3/8% in 2024).

• The small proportion of active members was the third most mentioned area of concern amongst ICs (down from second in 2024) – and 25 out of 36 ICs (69%) reported that less than half of their membership participated in IC events in 2025. Positively though, this is a big improvement on 2024 when 30 ICs reported this (83%).

• Following our 2024 AGM workshop where ICs were asked to appoint a member of their boards to be responsible for IC events, the number of ICs that have reported doing this has dropped from 31 (86%) in 2024 to 29 (78%) in 2025. We strongly encourage the remaining 7 ICs to do the same, given that events are such a core component of our IC membership value proposition.

IC Rod Laver Junior Challenge

• The IC Rod Laver Junior Challenge Regional Qualifiers will be played in the second half of 2026 and early 2027. All venues and factsheets have been shared and participants are looking forward to taking part.
• 20 out of 36 ICs (56%) are planning to participate in the Challenge in 2026, which is slightly down on 2023 (22/64%).
• Some of the reasons cited for not intending to participate included a lack of junior players of the competition standard, lack of player availability, funding/resourcing challenges and late information about qualifiers.

Board Members

• 36 out of 39 ICs (92%) now have female board members – this continues a positive trend since 2023 (33 in 2024 and 31 in 2023) which is great to see, although we should aim to have this at 100%.
• 24 out of 39 ICs (62%) have board members <45 years, which is flat YoY on 2024 in absolute terms (24 out of 37 ICs) but a percentage drop (from 65%). Although the longer-term trend is still upward since 2021 (49%), this demonstrates that work in this area needs to continue – as it is crucial in our efforts to address the wider issue of younger IC participation. We should also aim to have this at 100%.
• 23 out of 39 ICs (59%) now have board members who were ex-top 200 ATP/WTA ranked, which is an improvement on 2024 (20/54%) – this is very encouraging to see.
• Similarly, 36 out of 39 ICs (92%) have board members who had been top 10 ranked in their country, which is also an improvement on 2024 (33/89%) – also very positive in supporting our efforts to attract more former top players.

IC Philanthropy Foundation

• 14 out of 42 ICs (33%) are now involved in the running of 20 IC Philanthropy Foundation programmes worldwide, and 8 ICs (22%) with no ICPF programme confirmed interest in setting up one up in the future.
• In addition, 14 out of 36 ICs (39%) also reported engaging in other charitable activities.
• While 15 out of 42 ICs currently undertake fundraising activities to support ICPF, another 14 said they would be open to doing this.
• Following our 2024 AGM workshop where ICs were asked to appoint a member of their boards to be responsible for IC philanthropy, it’s disappointing to see that the number of ICs that have done this has dropped from 28 (78%) in 2024 to only 20 (54%) in 2025. We strongly encourage the remaining 16 ICs to do the same.
• 30 out of 36 ICs (83%) pass on information received from ICPF, which is slightly up on 2024 (29/81%).
• Aside from the positive impact these philanthropic activities have on their beneficiaries, they are also appealing to younger members – so represent a valuable opportunity for attracting more players from this age group.
• The details of those ICs indicating interest in either setting up an ICPF programme or supporting its fundraising will be passed to the ICPF Board of Trustees for follow-up.

Communications

• Only 20 out of 36 ICs (56%) have appointed a member of their boards to be responsible for marketing and communications. This is flat YoY compared to 2024 and still significantly down compared to 2023 (75%) and 2022 (81%). It’s essential that ICs prioritise this area to ensure their members are kept updated with news from our IC community and are aware of upcoming events.
• 22 out of 36 ICs (61%) have some form of social media presence, which is slightly up on 2024 (21/58%). The most popular platforms are Facebook (17 accounts) and Instagram (16 accounts).
• 27 out of 36 ICs (75%) have encouraged their members to join at least one of the IC Council social media pages – which is a really positive improvement from 2024 (24/67%). While the Instagram and Facebook pages have been promoted the most (by 19 ICs each), only 7 ICs have encouraged their members to join our more recent LinkedIn group.
• Social media is an effective means of sharing news across our IC community, and is particularly popular amongst younger demographics. With this in mind, we strongly encourage ICs to either set up their own individual social media pages and/or to encourage their members to follow the IC Council pages – for reference these are:
  • https://www.instagram.com/ic_tennis/
  • https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554986642088
  • https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13044677/
• 34 out of 36 ICs (94%) reported sharing the IC e-News (IC Council newsletters) with their membership base, which – although strong – is a drop from 36 ICs (100%) in 2024. We encourage you to speak to Laura Bunster Galeno if there are issues preventing you from sharing the eNews with your members so we can try to address these.

Finances

• 4 out of 36 ICs (11%) did not collect subscription fees in 2025 – none of which had done so in 2024 either. 4 ICs (11%) increased their fees, 1 (0.3%) reduced them and the remaining ICs kept the same fees as in 2024.
• Across all ICs, an average of 9% of members were in arrears with their subscriptions, which is improved from 2024 (10%) and demonstrates an overall positive trend since 2022 (14%). This is most likely supported by the fact that the number of ICs who have a policy in place to deal with members in arrears has increased significantly in recent years (83% in 2025 vs 75% in 2024 and 73% in 2023).

Sources of Support

• 28 out of 36 ICs (78%) report having a working relationship with their National Federation – this is a big improvement on 2024 (24/67%).
• Very positively, 30 out of 35 ICs (86%) meet with their IC Council Regional Representatives at least once a year, which is a marked improvement on both 2024 and 2023 (25/69% in 2024 and 21/62% in 2023). Only 3 ICs (9%) report that they have never met their Regional Representative, which is also significantly better than both 2024 and 2023 (5/14% in 2024 and 8/24% in 2023). Please reach out to your Regional Representative (and vice versa) to discuss further.
• To recap, the list of IC Council Regional Representatives is as follows:
  • Africa: Leonie Grondel (lgrondel@gmail.com)
  • Asia: Mimi Yoshii (mimiyoshii@aol.com)
  • Australasia: Kerryn Pratt (kerrynpratt1@gmail.com)
  • Europe: Eva-Maria Schneider (schneider.eva-maria@gmx.net)
  • North America: Brian Cadogan (brian.cadogan@sunoco.com)
  • South America: Philippe Pinet (philnat@netgate.com.uy)

Areas of Concern

• The graph below shows the main areas of concern for all ICs, with the most prevalent areas being the same as in 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021: the demographics of members, the ability to attract or retain members and the small number of active members.

[1] Number of IC events/ activities, which the club participated in (excluding the IC Junior Challenge): Council events, IC international matches, bilateral matches, internal competitions, and social events.